Stockholm+50 Calls For Speeding Up of Healthy Planet, Prosperity

As world leaders gathered in Stockholm, Sweden in 1972 for the UN Conference on the Human Environment, they were facing a planet in crisis. Acid rain was falling on cities. Oil spills were fouling the oceans. And forests were being clear-cut into oblivion.

The Stockholm meeting, considered to be the first global environmental summit, would mark the start of a unified effort to protect the planet, leading to the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Environment Day.

In the five decades since, countries have worked together to repair the ozone layer, protect the oceans, and phase out deadly forms of air pollution.

With the planet marked the 49th World Environment Day on June 5, experts said the world must quickly rekindle the spirit of multilateralism that led to those successes.

Speaking at the 2022 opening of the international environment meeting dubbed 'Stockholm+50', President Uhuru Kenyatta urged the international community to accelerate actions to avert the environmental threats facing the world. He asked all participants to seize the opportunity presented by the Stockholm+50 meeting to hasten the pace and quality of environmental action.

InFocus

Flood damage in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (file photo).

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